APPS & SITES

Epic Scenes

I’m still trying to get my head around what makes one scene more “epic” than the next. What do you think? I haven’t given it a ton of thought, but here are some things that seem to seperate an epic scene from another scene (which may also be interesting in its own great way):

A sense of scale – things close, far away, and a sense of the 3D depth of a vast playing field

A sense of timelessness – in which the photo could have been taken a long time ago — or recently — and it does not matter.

A feeling of the old movies – I’m not sure what I mean by this one… just the shape of a feeling, though…

Daily Photo – Yosemite Valley View

My first trip to Yosemite was so fun — I can’t believe it was only a few weeks ago!

I’ve been to Yellowstone about a dozen times, so it was strange never to have a trip to Yosemite under my belt. Yellowstone is great and everything, but it lacks a few of these “epic” scenes, if you know what I mean.

Rothfuss Hangout Redux

Daily Photo – Little Church in Yosemite

While in the meadows between the mountains of Yosemite, I did not expect to see this little church.

And waiting for the right kind of light was another challenge. The light down in the valley is so strange. The sheer walls of the mountains on both sides are so steep that the sun disappears quite early in the day. Everything becomes a little-bit-dreamy then, and I felt like that was a good time to take the shot.

Trey’s Variety Hour #22: Patrick Rothfuss – The Name of the Hangout

Don’t forget you can subscribe for free in iTunes: http://goo.gl/ZAKd8 (or other options at http://twit.tv/tvh) if you want to get these first, or have them available later on your computer, iPhone, or iPad.

This show was a very special one for me (sounds like a very special episode of Blossom, when she gets a visit from Aunt Flo), but you’ll probably detect this while watching. During the first bit, we talked about art, sharing, the human condition, and unexpected benefits of creating art in a vacuum. In the second bit when Veronica Belmont joined, we started going off on all sorts of fantasy tangents. This may or may not have included dipping our wicks into Vaginal Fantasies.

Want to know what book of his to get first? Just get “The Name of the Wind” (Amazon or Audible) and thank me later!

Daily Photo – The Gentle Rays

On my first evening in Yosemite, the sun did some amazing things. There as a big group of Google+ people converging on Yosemite, but I arrived a day early for a little “me” time. Nature must have felt my mojo because it all conspired to create some interesting results as the rays tumbled across the valley floor.

Subscribe to the Show

If you were already subscribed at http://twit.tv/tvh or iTunes Link: goo.gl/ZAKd8 , then you would already have the show below. So… why didn’t you do it yet? Or better yet, why didn’t you tell your friends!?

Daily Photo – The Lodge at Night

On the final night of the Yosemite PhotoWalk, we ended up here to explore the evening. This is the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, and I hope I made it look as beautiful as it really is. This is also the place that Steve Jobs got married.

Karen Hutton and I arrived here very late at night after our extra-long walk! We could even see a few people camping for the night halfway up the mountain they were climbing. After going around the back side of the lodge, we saw the stars and trees and cliffs above…

The Star Trails eBook from Jim Goldstein

Daily Photo – The Mariposa Woods

While we were at Yosemite for the big PhotoWalk, we took an evening to visit the Mariposa Woods. They were very close to our hotel, and it was an easier drive than going all the way to the main park at Yosemite. Plus, I had a feeling the sunset would be quite stunning through the trees. My feelings don’t always work out, but this time it did.

My methods still haven’t changed for these kinds of shots. Seven exposures: from +3 to -3 seems to get the job done. I end up with more than enough light for the post-processing.

Facebook Best-Of

I notice that my Facebook page has really taken off lately with a lot of subscribers. So, I’ve been putting a bunch of my old favorites there on FB. I think most people there have never seen them! Of course, they are all from the blog here… maybe even a few years ago… but it has been kind of fun to dredge up some of the old favorites!

So if you’re new here to the blog, you may enjoy visiting my timeline there too!

Daily Photo – Mountains Forever

During the Yosemite PhotoWalk, the sky was beyond belief for the first few nights. The second half of the trip had fairly mundane skies. So, I was happy I went out there and got a lot of shots in the beginning!

I’m often optimistic about the “future” of the trip, assuming that the sunsets will always get better and better. This rarely is the case, so I don’t know why I’m consistently optimistic about the prospects.

No I don’t…

It seems like every day I get a question about whether or not people pay me to post about things. People think I do this because my Klout (meaningless) is 83 and I have over 750,000 followers on Google+ and another 100K or so on Twitter + Facebook, but no, I do not:

…do paid posts from Nikon for money

…do paid posts from Sony for money

…do paid posts from Apple for money

…do paid posts from Google for money

…do paid posts from Facebook for money

…do paid posts from … you name it… SmugMug, American Airlines, Four Seasons, Banyan Tree, Fuji, American Express, etc etc… for money

The thing is… I can’t be bought. The blog is already profitable and we have a healthy and happy team of employees here at StuckInCustoms that I appreciate very much. This means I don’t have to accept money to post on the blog or various social networks to artificially “plug” something. If you ever see me mention a product or service, it’s simply because I wanted to… because it fits in with the story or it is a product or service I recommend.

There are always behind-the-scenes stuff happening that we reject all the time. I’ll listen to any proposal, as long as it does not include me being disingenuous to you, my gentle reader. If you’d like to read more about this policy and all the ins and outs on the website, visit my Ethics Statement.

There are continually confusing situations that I try to avoid. For example, Lytro offered to send me a free camera in exchange for me sending them my Lytro photos to be featured on their website. That would be seen as an official “endorsement” of sorts by me. Anyway, I told those jokers no way. Even though I would not be actively posting about it, the association could be seen as disruptive and not respectful of you.

Daily Photo – The Lonely Woods, Forever

Here is another photo from our recent Yosemite PhotoWalk last week. The valley floor is full of dense forests that can go on for an eternity. I had a wonderful time exploring these with all my fellow PhotoWalkers. I can’t wait to do it all again soon.

Google Talk Today

I’ll be at Google Austin today to give a talk about photography and the future of it. It’s a closed event, unfortunately, so I can’t invite you guys in… Maybe next time I’ll plan something with a bigger venue. Either way, I think the Google team will record it so I can share later.

Daily Photo – The Yosemite Valley

This was my first trip to Yosemite ever, so I was pretty excited. I’ve been to Yellowstone about a dozen times, but this has always been a blank spot for me. It was a great trip and we had all sorts there from the Google+ PhotoWalk.

The first evening there had a nice set of pinks and some vermillion reflections that cascaded down the valley. Subsequent days had me traveling all the way down the valley to see all the same mountains from a variety of perspectives.